Illinois Equity in Attainment (ILEA) Plan

In October 2018, the Partnership for College Completion (PCC) launched the Illinois Equity in Attainment Initiative (ILEA), their signature effort to galvanize direct and urgent action with 25 two-year and four-year, public and private non-profit colleges and universities across the state. Each institution was charged with filing an ILEA plan to close equity gaps in retention, completion and graduation rates for African American, Latina/x/o, and Pell-eligible students. 

Northeastern Illinois University was among the 25 institutions that committed to file an ILEA plan with the Partnership for College Completion in 2020. 

NEIU filed our ILEA plan with the PCC on February 1, 2023. 

Please note the eight institutional strategies listed in the plan that NEIU will advance and assess for their impact on closing equity gaps in retention and graduation rates:

  1. Scale up credit-bearing co-requisite and stretch models of gateway math and English courses
  2. Increase usage and accelerate response time of NEIU’s Early Alert System (Starfish/NEIUStar)
  3. Establish College Equity Teams to identify and close equity gaps in completion, retention and graduation rates for African American, Latina/x/o and Pell-eligible students in their respective Colleges
  4. Incentivize curricular redesign, culturally responsive teaching strategies, and innovative professional development
  5. Implement mandatory “Equity-in-Faculty-Hiring” Search and Screen Committee training
  6. Establish a Social Service Consortium to develop programs and services for student populations that are disproportionately impacted by basic needs insecurities (food, housing, and financial) and barriers they create towards degree completion
  7. Identify and remove barriers for financial aid access
  8. Participate in ILEA Equity Academies

The responsible personnel designated in NEIU’s ILEA plan will work with and provide updates to the campus community throughout each semester on each institutional strategy. These reports will include steps taken toward implementation, the method for measuring impact, and disaggregated data analysis to identify whether and how the strategy is meeting ILEA goals. Requisite annual reports submitted to the PCC will also be made available to the NEIU community.

Illinois State Equity Plan

Building on our ILEA plan, NEIU is in the process of preparing to draft the more comprehensive IL State Equity strategic plan. 

On June 7, 2022, Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed HB5464 into law. HB5464 requires state public universities and community colleges to develop and implement equity plans and practices to increase the access, retention, completion and student loan repayment rates for minority students, rural students, adult students, women and people with disabilities who are traditionally underrepresented in education programs and activities.

Both the ILEA and IL State strategic equity plans will chart short and long-term goals to close equity gaps in our retention and graduation rates for all students.